Mumbai: Train services hit on Nallasopara-Virar stretch after people protest against Pulwama attack

The local trains services on Western Railway were affected on Saturday morning after people came down on tracks in protest over Pulwama attack. The suburban locals were stranded between 8:30 am to 11:40 am on Nallasopara and Virar stretch.

The WR officials said that by 8:30 am people, who were preventing shops from opening in the area, started coming onto the tracks. There were severely overcrowded foot over bridges and platforms due to "rail roko" protests.

The protesters stopped the train from moving and shouted slogans like "Bharat Mata ki jai" and "Pakistan Murdabaad".

It affected morning peak hour services especially those running towards Churchgate on both slow and fast lines. "We were trying to convince people to come back from tracks and allow trains to move. However it took time," said a WR official.

Maharashtra: Protesters stage demonstration on the railway tracks at Nallasopara railway station in protest against #PulwamaAttack. Train movement affected at Nallasopara and beyond. pic.twitter.com/BzFLDzyi6z

— ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

In a tweet, the Western Railway (WR) said, "Several protesters have blocked the tracks at Nallasopara due to which train movement has been affected at Nallasopara & beyond. GRP, RPF are making efforts to convince the people & evacuate the tracks & normalize the train movement."

At least 60 train services were cancelled due to this and several trains leaving Vasai and Borivali were running late by 20 minutes and more. "The situation was brought under control and trains resumed running by 11:40 am," said Ravinder Bhakar, Chief PRO, Western Railway.

However, it was expected to take a couple of hours to get trains on schedule. 

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday when a suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed rammed a vehicle carrying nearly 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.